


A Slip of Earth

by In_Time_of_Peril



Series: Heading Home [2]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-25
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-02-10 07:35:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2016492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/In_Time_of_Peril/pseuds/In_Time_of_Peril
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Since ending her travels with the Doctor, Tegan has tried to go back to her old life.  Work, family, and just getting along day by day were all she thought she needed.  The personal loneliness that came along with her "ordinary" life seemed just the way of things.  But an unexpected visit could give her the chance to find her way to the life she always wanted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I'll Be Home for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This follows on directly from Chapter 5 of my Ace/Mel story "When the Stars Threw Down Their Spears," with the first chapter of this serving as a flipside to the other. You can read this without looking at the other story, but it might be best to at least read the first few chapters, and be aware that the plots will converge at several points.
> 
> The overall title of this story comes from the poem "Floating Island" by Dorothy Wordsworth.
> 
> As ever, thanks to aceinnatailsuit for the beta.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tegan is preparing to spend Christmas, 1990 all alone. But the arrival of an apparent stranger at her door brings someone she thought that she had lost forever back into her life.

Two days until Christmas, and Tegan Jovanka was as excited as she ever got about that sort of thing anymore.  In other words, not very.  There were no decorations around the house, beyond a small, half-decorated artificial tree on the side table and a few cards on the mantel.

A few moments before, Tegan had been deeply invested in reading a magazine, but now even that seemed like too great a bother.  She thought of giving her mother a call; Uncle Richard and Aunt Felicity were visiting, and her brother was home too.  Not that she felt like seeing anyone, particularly, but it would be nice to at least talk to them.

She still had not moved when, moments later, the doorbell rang.  She was in no mood to deal with anyone at the moment.  With her luck, it would be drunken mid-afternoon carollers, decked out in Christmas gear definitely not suited to this hemisphere.  They would slosh their way through ‘O Tannenbaum’ or ‘A Little Bush Fairy’ and she would slam the door on them.  They never seemed to get the message that she had no interest in their antics.

For a bit, she thought that whoever had dared darken her doorstep had chosen to slip away.  But then the doorbell rang again.  With a sigh and a feeling of dread, she stood.

“All right, all right!”

She stalked to the front door, intent on really giving those grubs a telling off.  Turning the deadbolt but leaving the chain on, she opened the door slowly.  She was surprised to see not the local rabble on her veranda, but a smallish man in a dark hat, coat, and trousers.  He was accompanied by a woman with violently red hair and clothes that looked just futuristic enough to make Tegan nervous..

“Can I help you?” Tegan challenged.

“Ah, yes, hello!” the man said, lifting his hat from his head slightly.  “Tegan Jovanka?”

There was nothing unusual about the man knowing her name - he had probably gotten it off of some mailing list somewhere - but the way he was watching her made Tegan feel odd, somehow.  “You’re looking at her.”

“Yes, I’m here on behalf…”

“I already made my donations for the year, thank you,” Tegan cut in, beginning to shut the door.

The man dared to stick the tip of his umbrella into the gap; Tegan shoved it back out.  The door was almost blessedly closed when another voice, a very familiar one, spoke up from somewhere behind the man.

“Tegan, we’re - we’re not here about a donation.”

Tegan froze completely.  That voice - there was no way it could be who it sounded like.  But it had to be, somehow.  It couldn’t be anyone else.  Closing up fully, Tegan took the chain off, then threw the door back open again, sure she would rip it from the hinges in her haste.

Rushing outside, Tegan shoved past the man and saw something she had never expected.  There was Nyssa, yes, Nyssa, barely changed by the passage of time.  The only thing that Tegan found herself even vaguely wondering about was the sleeping child in Nyssa’s arms.

“Nyssa?” she breathed.

“It’s me.  I’m really here.”

“What - how are you here?  Where did you - how?”

“The Doctor brought me,” Nyssa said, nodding toward the man - no, Time Lord - who was teetering on the edge of the veranda.  He doffed his hat again when Tegan looked at him.

“Hello, Tegan,” he said, and she flinched, backed away half a step.  A moment later, she looked back to Nyssa and the other woman.

“We - we should go inside,” she said at last, ushering them all inside.  She kept her eyes locked on Nyssa, sure that if she looked away for even a moment, this would all turn out to be some dream, some terrible, wonderful illusion.

The Doctor spoke to Tegan again while they were all standing in the front hall, but she barely heard him.  She half-acknowledged when the redhead introduced herself as Mel, but still she was too preoccupied to pay attention.  She was too busy, far too busy, watching Nyssa.

“I never thought - I just knew I’d never see you again,” she managed, hardly daring to reach out and touch Nyssa to see if she were real.

“I felt the same way.  I suppose we were wrong.”

Nyssa had handed her child off to Mel, and now she and Tegan went hand in hand to the lounge.

“It’s been so long, Tegan.  So much has happened.”

“I gathered that.  A lot’s happened to me too.”

For a long moment, they could only stare at each other.  Then Nyssa was the one to pull Tegan into a tight hug.

“I really thought - I never imagined…” she stammered.

“I know,” Tegan said into Nyssa’s curls, “I know.”

They parted, but incompletely, still clutching at each other’s arms.  They were silent for a long while, and then suddenly, it was as though a dam had broken.

“How - when did you stop traveling with the Doctor?”

“How long were you at Terminus?  You didn’t get ill again, did you?”

“What’s your life like since you got back?”

They never quite managed to get talking in turns, but they muddled through somehow, exchanging scraps of narrative whenever the other had stopped for breath.

“It wasn’t too long after you left that I did.  I just - it was time to go.  To get back to my old life.”

“I was fine at Terminus.  I’d done everything I could in a couple of years, and then I moved on.  There were other places to be, other people to help.”

“I’m running my dad’s old business.  It’s hard work, but I know how it goes, and I still get to fly, at least around to all of the stations we deal with and everything.  Not to mention how much easier the customers are to work with.”

“There was someone - a man.  He was kind and wonderful and his name was Lasarti.  We were married, and we kept traveling together, helping people.  We had Neeka there after a little while.”

“There’ve been a couple of people for me.  Nothing too permanent, though there almost was.  Mostly it’s just been me here.”

And then they were still again, and silent.  Tegan touched Nyssa’s face, stroked the soft cheek that she remembered so well.

“What happened to him?” she asked.  “Your husband, I mean.”

“We were - there was a cooperative colony planet.  All sorts of races, species, working together to build a good society.  Lasarti and I went there to help in whatever ways we could.  Diplomacy, medicine…  But - there was a raid, slavers, and Lasarti, he - I mean, there was no…”

Nyssa’s eyes filled with tears, and then suddenly she was weeping against Tegan’s shoulder, and it was so much like their last goodbye that Tegan wanted to let loose with the waterworks too.  But she couldn’t.  She had to be strong for Nyssa.  Turning, she guided them over to the huge old armchair that stood in the corner.  She sat, pulling Nyssa down into her lap, and they held onto each other, rocking.  Tegan stroked Nyssa’s back slowly, rhythmically.

“You’re safe now.  I’m so sorry for all of that.  But you’re safe now.”

When Tegan bothered to look elsewhere in the room again, Mel and the Doctor were gone.  Nyssa’s child was asleep on the sofa, and there was a slip of paper folded up on the side table.  Tegan stretched out a hand and grabbed it.

> Tegan,
> 
> I know that you will do what’s right regarding Nyssa and Neeka.  You’ve always loved Nyssa, and she you.  You’ll go on loving each other, I believe, for the rest of your lives.  Just consider this reunion the gift of an old Time Lord who’s made plenty of mistakes and is trying, perhaps too late, to correct them.
> 
> Brave heart, Tegan.
> 
> The Doctor
> 
> P.S. Someone will be by in a few days with all the papers that Nyssa and Neeka should need for a stable, happy life on Earth.

She looked up from the letter to Nyssa, who glanced up a few seconds later.  Tegan swallowed.

“So,” she said eventually.  Earlier, with the Doctor still there, it had seemed like this all might be a quick visit, that Nyssa and her daughter would be leaving with him.

“This is all rather sudden, I know,” Nyssa said.  “I’d understand if it’s too much, or if you don’t want us around sort of permanently, but - we do need a place to stay for now.  Just until we can settle in and establish ourselves.”

“Nyssa - of course I want you around permanently.  If that’s what you want.”

Suddenly, Nyssa pulled her knees up more tightly and rested as much as she could against Tegan’s chest and shoulder.  It was like it had been in the old days, the two of them curled up together somewhere in the TARDIS, talking about whatever had happened.  Of course now they were both a bit older, and they were in a proper house, and there was the matter of the small child sleeping nearby to be dealt with.

“How old is she?” Tegan asked, nodding toward Neeka.

“Five.  Not much more than a baby, but really quite grown-up in some ways.”

“She looks small.  To be five, I mean.”

“Well, I was always small for my age.  She’ll grow.”

“She - was she there - what did you both - I’m sorry, you don’t want to talk about that now…”

“It’s all right, Tegan, really.  We were captured, held in deplorable conditions for a few weeks.  Neeka saw her father - she saw what happened to him.  Then, along came Mel and Ace…”

“Who’s Ace?”

“Someone else who knows the Doctor.  They freed all of us that were still alive and enabled us to - to go home.”

“And you chose to come here?”

“I - wanted to.  It didn’t seem possible, not at first.  But then the Doctor showed up, and he offered to help.  He - seemed to know you would want us here.  Or at least to think you would.”

“I do, Nyssa.  Oh, I’ve wanted - for years I’ve wished there was some way.  Now that it’s happened, I’m still not sure I can quite believe it.”

“I’m here.  This is happening.  I know it can never be like it was, not really, but - I’ve always thought about you, Tegan.  Always missed you.  Sometimes over the years, I was so happy, and all I could think about was how happy you would be with me in whatever the situation was.”

“I think I know exactly how that feels,” Tegan murmured, realising suddenly that she had entirely relaxed for the first time since Nyssa’s arrival.

There was an irresistible urge to bury her face in Nyssa’s hair, to press kisses to the soft curls as she so often had in the past.  Tegan gave in, the hand that had been stroking Nyssa’s back now rising to the nape of her neck to tickle the soft skin there.  Nyssa made a soft whimpering noise, head tilting back slightly.  That was almost too much; Tegan suddenly felt that she was overstepping whatever boundaries should remain between them.

“I really did miss you,” she said.

“I missed you so much, Tegan.”

For an instant, it seemed as if something more might happen.  Then, Nyssa drew away a bit, shaking her head.

“I - I think I must be awfully tired.  And Neeka will probably sleep a while longer.”

“Sure.  There’s - there’s a guest room.  You could both sleep in there, if you like.  Until things get sorted properly.”

“That sounds wonderful.  A proper bedroom, I mean.  It’s been a long time since I was in a bed.”

“Well, you’ll like this one.  If you want - come on, I’ll show you the way.”

Once Nyssa was off her lap, Tegan instantly regretted letting her go.  Still, to see her moving around in the house, acting as if she belonged, was a comfort.  She wasn’t acting as if she belonged, of course, but she seemed at ease, or at least not as nervous as Tegan might have expected.  She still had her old lithe grace, the easy walk that somehow was both regal and relaxed.  Even stooping to gather Neeka into her arms, Nyssa moved like royalty.

Tegan showed Nyssa the way to the guest room, trying hard all the way not to focus on how gorgeous Nyssa still looked, how soft and delicate.  If anything was going to happen between them, it would have to wait.  There was a lot of water that needed to pass under the bridge between now and that hypothetical future.


	2. One More Sleep 'til Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas has come a bit early for Tegan, but she still can't quite believe that Nyssa and Neeka might be with her to stay. Avisit from another old associate of the Doctor serves to confirm that truth, and it seems that everything might work out. Of course, there's still the problem of how the trauma that ended in their arrival on Earth has affected Neeka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As ever, aceinnatailsuit did the beta. Thanks, friend.

Tegan must have checked on her guests a dozen times throughout the night.  They seemed comfortable enough, though at least once she heard Neeka cry out in terror, only to be comforted moments later by Nyssa’s soft murmuring and what sounded like a lullaby in a strange language.

“Everything all right?” Tegan asked, peering past the door.

“Mm-hmm.  She just had a bad dream.  All better now.”

“Sure?  You don’t need anything, do you?”

Nyssa shook her head and smiled.

“We’re all right.”

“Ah.  Okay.  Well, I’m right down the hall if you need anything.”

“Thank you, Tegan.  For - for being here.  For everything.”

Tegan simply smiled and nodded and went on to her own room.  She did sleep, somewhat, but it was in fits and starts.  Every little sound, every seeming change in the air of the room, brought her to full awareness.  Still, though she was tired, she rose with the sun and went about all of her usual tasks.  It was only when Nyssa appeared in the kitchen, Neeka following close after, that Tegan felt settled at last into the reality of their situation.

Nyssa came to her, hugged her quite openly, then turned and lifted Neeka up.

“Darling, this is Mummy’s friend Tegan.  She’s going to let us stay with her here, where we can be safe and happy.  Won’t that be nice?”

The child looked away, burying her face against her mother’s neck.  Nyssa looked apologetic, but Tegan just smiled.

“She’s not used to me yet.  Little kids take time to warm up to new things.”

They sat and had breakfast together, and Tegan thought that it was almost like being a family.  She found herself more than once too distracted to eat, watching Nyssa interact with Neeka, correcting her manners gently like any mother would.  Once, out of nowhere, the little girl started to cry, and Nyssa hugged her and whispered to her until she stopped.

“She’s still upset.”

“Understandable.  Poor little one’s been through a lot.  So has her mum.”

Tegan had thought that, after having no supper the night before, Nyssa and Neeka would be famished.  Instead, they ate very lightly, really only picking at their food.

“Is there something else you’d like instead?” she asked once.

“Oh, no,” Nyssa said, smiling.  “This is wonderful.”

“Well, you know - if there’s something - I mean, is there…”

“Tegan, it’s all right.  This is very good.  Thank you.”

Before Tegan could press things further, the doorbell rang.  There seemed no reason to be concerned, except for the fact that it was Christmas Eve and Tegan was expecting no visitors.  It could be anyone.  It could be a relative or a neighbour.

It could be the Doctor again, come to take Nyssa and Neeka away, saying that it had all been a mistake and they were never supposed to be here.

“Should you answer…” Nyssa began, but fell silent at the expression on Tegan’s face.

The bell rang again twice more before Tegan stood and walked slowly out of the kitchen.  She didn’t want to answer this, didn’t want to risk that somehow she was going to lose the family she had only just gained.

She opened the door cautiously, leaving the chain on as she had the afternoon before.  At the sight of the man waiting outside, she almost felt relieved.

“Miss Jovanka,” he smiled.

“Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart?”

“The very same.  There’s been a call from the Doctor.  He said you had some houseguests who might need help settling in.”

There were other people walking up to the house now, all dressed very plainly, but with obvious military bearing.  Tegan felt a new nervousness curling in her gut.

“They - the Doctor called you?”

“Well, he called UNIT, and they called me.  We’ve dealt with this sort of thing before.”

Something moved at her back, and Tegan glanced around enough to see that Nyssa had emerged from the kitchen, Neeka on her hip.

“You’re just here to help?” Tegan asked.

“Of course.”

After a few more seconds, Tegan closed the door and popped the chain off.  When she dared to open back up, the Brigadier and his cohorts were still there, smiling.

“I suppose you can come in,” she said, and the Brigadier nodded, removing his hat.

They all settled in the lounge, the Brigadier and one fellow sitting on the sofa, the others standing at various points around the room.  Tegan took the armchair, but Nyssa remained in the doorway, tense, looking ready to run, Neeka clinging to her neck.

“There’s a good deal of paperwork,” one of the UNIT men explained, snapping open a briefcase and passing a file jacket along to the Brigadier.

“The Doctor said someone would be along with papers for us,” Nyssa said.

“That’s right.  We’ll need your names, ages, approximate birthdates relative to current Earthtime…”

“Slow down, Simmons,” the Brigadier said, smiling kindly at Nyssa.  “I remember you, young lady.  Both of you, actually.  The incident at Brendon Public School.”

“It’s kind of you to remember.”

“Nonsense.  I never forget a face; with friends like the Doctor, that’s almost a requirement.  Now then, we’ve also brought a few things that you may need.  The Doctor was not very good with describing - well, the sizes of clothing you might need.  He seemed only to know that you were shorter than he is now, whichever one of him it was, and that you have legs.  He also said that you have a child, but he described her as anywhere from ten to sixteen.”

“Neeka’s five,” Nyssa sighed, seeming totally understanding of the Doctor, yet exasperated.

“Yes, well, that she’s younger than anticipated is obvious.  We’ll adjust accordingly.  For the moment, Nyssa, we only want to make certain that you have an easy adjustment to life here on Earth.”

“Thank you.  I think - well, after what we’ve been through, Neeka and I need any help we can get.”

The man sitting next to the Brigadier stood and approached Nyssa slowly, hand extended in greeting.

“I’m Mike,” he said.  “Mike Yates.”

Nyssa looked confused, but shook his hand.

“Mike here’s a former UNIT man,” the Brigadier said.  “For the purposes of paperwork, if it’s all right with you, he’ll be your child’s father.”

“Oh,” Nyssa gasped, and Neeka suddenly snapped to attention.

“Abo?” she whispered, looking all around.  When she didn’t see what she was looking for, she let out a keening cry and buried her face in Nyssa’s shoulder again.

“That’s the first word I’ve heard out of Neeka since you’ve been here,” Tegan said.

“It’s - it’s the first word she’s said since we were taken.  It was also the last word she said when the raid was going on.”

“Well, what does it mean?” the man called Simmons asked.

“It’s Traken - my native language.  It means father.  She - what happened was very traumatic for her.  My husband was lost fighting the people who captured us.  They - put him down right in front of her.”

“The poor little mite,” Mike said softly.  “If - if you’d rather not put anything down for - that on the papers…”

“No.  If it might help Neeka to fit in, we have to do it.  She’ll understand someday, I hope.”

Neeka was blubbering and weeping.  She sounded on the verge of crying herself sick, and the Brigadier stood quickly, apparently disturbed by the over-emotive display.  He chose to address his next remarks to Tegan.

“Yes, well, if you’ll simply fill out the papers to the best of your ability, someone will be by next week to pick it all up.  With any luck, Nyssa and Neeka should have their identification settled sometime late in January.”

After that, it was a series of rather rushed goodbyes.  Tegan saw the men out, only to be handed a stack of parcels as they went.

“Clothing, you know,” the Brigadier said.  “Only hope some of it fits them.  Oh, and there’s a bag of sweets in there for the girl.  What child doesn’t like sweets, eh?”

“Probably a diabetic,” Tegan muttered as the man rushed down to his vehicle.  She closed the door before they were even out of sight.

Pausing outside of the lounge, she could hear Nyssa and Neeka having a quiet conversation, once again in that strange language; Traken, she knew now.

“Abo,” Neeka said.  “Lutus adur Abo.”

“Akt anisk, Neeka.”

“Ki!  Lutus Abo!”

Tegan decided to press on then, to walk back into the room and brave whatever storms of tears might occur.  There might not be any way she could help, but she could at least be there for Nyssa.

She found both mother and child in tears, huddled together on the sofa.  Nyssa looked up at her, trying and failing to smile.

“Neeka just misses Lasarti so much,” she said.  “We both miss him so much.”

“I - I know,” Tegan sighed.  “It’s got to be tough.  When my dad died - we’re none of us really over it.  I suppose you never completely move on.”

That only seemed to make Nyssa more upset, and Tegan felt terrible.  She thought of trying a different tack for offering comfort, but could think of nothing.  She ended up stumbling back into the front hall and gathering up the parcels that UNIT had left.  They were actually wrapped like Christmas gifts, which struck her as an odd but endearing touch.

Neeka seemed more calm when Tegan returned, sitting sullenly on Nyssa’s lap and staring at the floor.  When she saw the brightly wrapped parcels, however, she jumped down and ran toward Tegan, reaching up.

“Oh dear,” Nyssa said.  “You’ve found her weakness.”

“Presents?” Tegan asked.

Nyssa nodded.

“We didn’t exactly spoil her, but - well, she knows a gift when she sees one.”

“Well, what little kid doesn’t love presents?  Here you are, kiddo.  Knock yourself out.”

The first parcel was shredded open as soon as Neeka laid hands on it.  She tossed the clothing aside, but when she found the packet of sweets, she stared at it, head tilted to one side.

“Hasn’t she had candy before?”

“No.  Not really.  There was never anything like that where we lived, so her knowledge of sweets is - well, nil, I suppose.”

Fingers having failed to make any progress toward opening the packet, Neeka attacked it with her teeth.  The plastic and paper split quickly under the assault, small candies pouring forth onto the child’s lap.  She picked one up, sniffed at it, then popped it wrapper and all into her mouth.  She spat it out almost as quickly and shoved the treats away, looking indignant as her mother and Tegan laughed.

“No, darling,” Nyssa said, moving to kneel at her daughter’s side.  “You have to open it.”

Nyssa demonstrated how to twist the wrappers off, then handed Neeka another sweet.  Sniffing the item again cautiously, Neeka shrugged and then licked at the candy.  Apparently pleased with the new result, she consumed the little bit of caramel.

“See, kiddo?” Tegan laughed.  “Not so bad.”

Neeka looked askance at Tegan and scooted closer to Nyssa.  Snatching up another bit of candy, she pulled off the wrapper and shoved the sweet in after the first one.

“Two might be enough for now,” Nyssa sighed, gathering up the spilled sweets and slipping them into the remains of their package.  “You don’t want to be sick.”

“Aw, let her have a few more.  It’s almost Christmas.”

Nyssa cocked an eyebrow at Tegan and shook her head.

“You’re as bad as her fath- uhm, well, he always did try to give her anything and everything she wanted.”

“Hey, a little one as cute as your Neeka deserves whatever she can have.  I just feel a bit badly about not having any presents for her, or for you.”

“Oh, but Tegan, you’ve given us a place to stay, at least for now.  That’s present enough, believe me.”

“I hope it’s not just for now.  I hope you’ll both stay - stay for as long as you like.”

That ended the conversation, because Tegan turned quickly and went back to the kitchen.  She was surprised when Nyssa followed her a few moments later.

“Neeka all right?”

“She’s fine.  She’s tearing into those packages of clothing.  You know, I don’t think any of it will fit either of us very well.”

Tegan laughed and went to the sink.

“We’ll go out day after tomorrow and get you some things.  Or I will, if you don’t feel quite up to things like that.  And I can always take a look at what they brought and maybe alter some of it; I used to be very handy with a sewing machine.”

Suddenly, Nyssa was embracing Tegan from behind.

“I can never thank you enough, Tegan.  Really.”

“You - you don’t have to thank me.  I’m only doing what I need to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The dialogue in Nyssa's native language is taken from a conlang project aceinnatailsuit and I have undertaken. Nyssa and Neeka's little dialogue translates roughly as follows:  
> "Father. I want to see Father!"  
> "You are tired, Neeka."  
> "No! I want Father!"


	3. Everything I need.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few months into 1991, Nyssa and Neeka are adapting to life on Earth, and Tegan is adapting to having an instant family. Sometimes, however, you have to wonder if things will ever be just as you want them to be.

“You’re sure you’ll be all right?”

Nyssa smiled and patted Tegan’s shoulder reassuringly.

“We’ll be fine.  Neeka’s settling in well at school, I’ve got my work starting soon…”

“I’d still feel better if you didn’t start until I’m back.”

“Oh, Tegan.  I can’t stay here waiting around forever.  I’ve got to get started so that I can get some income.  There’s got to be a future for Neeka, and for myself.”

Tegan stood and turned abruptly.

“I’ve said you can stay here as long as you need to.  As long as you like.”

“And I’m grateful to you for that, Tegan.  We both are.  But sooner or later you’ll want to move on with your own life…”

“Maybe I won’t.  Nyssa, I’m - the way things are - I’m happier now, with you and Neeka here, than I have been in years.”

“Tegan…”

“I don’t mean to push.  Honestly.  But Nys - I’ve missed having you around.  I’ve missed everything about you.  I don’t want to lose you again so soon.  Even if we’re only just friends, I want - I want you to stay.  You and Neeka.  You’re both important to me.”

“You’re important to us as well, Tegan.  You’ve been so wonderful and kind, letting us stay, helping us to settle in.  I can’t even begin to tell you how comforting it was to have you there to lean on when they found - when they realised what I’d lost aboard the slave ship.”

Without a thought, Tegan pulled Nyssa into her arms.  There had been medical examinations, of course, to go along with all of the other mess of settling Nyssa and Neeka on Earth.  Everything was fine, pretty standard, at least as close to human standard as UNIT knew Nyssa could be.  There had been, however, high hormone traces in her blood that indicated a miscarriage.  That revelation had led to days of tears on Nyssa’s part, and Neeka being very confused as to why her mother was so very sad.

“I always want to help you, Nyssa.  I wish there was more I could do.”

Nyssa pulled out of the embrace gently.

“You’ve done so much, Tegan.  But for now, you need to get to your work.  Neeka and I will be fine here.  Captain Simmons will check on us, and there’s your sister-in-law as well, don’t forget…”

“Jodie can’t find her way out of a paper sack,” Tegan muttered.  
“How’s she supposed to look after my fam - my friend?”

Smiling, Nyssa took Tegan’s hand and squeezed it.

“You can’t give everything up for us, Tegan.”

“I’m not.  I just - suppose I come back and - you’ve gone?  Suppose this has all been a dream?”

“It’s no dream, Tegan.  I know it can’t be.”

They embraced again at last, and this time it was Tegan who pulled away first, if a little reluctantly.

“You’ve got the number at the office.  You leave a message and they can get in touch with me…”

“I know, Tegan.  Go on.  The sooner you go, the sooner you can return.”

* * *

It was a typical trip, just a jaunt to make certain that none of the usual customers had any concerns about their winter supply.  She was flying the Cessna from station to station, talking with managers and hands alike.

Basically, it was the kind of work her dad had loved once he got into it, but that Tegan never imagined for herself.  Still, she was getting good at it, even enjoying it.  She had her brother Nicholas along with her, and that made things much easier.

“So Teegs,” he said as they hopped back into the plane after their latest stop, “how’s that friend of yours?”

“Well enough.  How’s that girlfriend of yours?”

Nicholas Jovanka laughed, tapping his hat against his knee.

“I didn’t mean anything, Sis.  Just - you’ve been sorta taken up with things lately and I’m wondering if you’re finally gonna settle down.”

“And what?” Tegan growled, running through her checklist.  
“Retire and hand you the business?”

“Hey!  I’m just - thinking about your happiness.”

“Sure, baby brother.  Sure.”

* * *

 Once they were back in Brisbane, Tegan wasted no time getting through all of her paperwork, clearing things up, and heading home.  She wondered how things would be, if Nyssa and Neeka would be happy to see her.  Well, Nyssa would.  Neeka was still uneasy around her, sometimes, though at least now they could talk a bit.

It was a bit of a shock to walk in and find a full, home-cooked meal sitting ready.  She had lived for ages on convenience foods, relying on her mother or sisters-in-law for occasional “real” suppers.  Since having Nyssa and Neeka in her life, she had found herself cooking more, and sometimes Nyssa did as well.  This, however, had been rather unexpected.

“You’ve been planning this for days, haven’t you?” Tegan asked, forking up another bite of hoggett and potatoes.

Nyssa smiled.

“Maybe.”

Neeka was quite cheerful, happily devouring her supper, though she did stop now and then to tell Tegan about how she was doing in school.

“They’ve still got the letters wrong, though,” she said.

“Neeka’s used to a slightly more evolved alphabet,” Nyssa explained.

“Yours doesn’t have enough letters.”

“Well,” Tegan grinned, “we’ll have to talk to them about that.”

By the time the meal was over and Neeka had been bathed and put to bed, Tegan was feeling very happy and relaxed.  Maybe, just maybe, things were working out.

“How’s your work been?” she asked Nyssa when they were sitting together in the lounge.

“Oh, it’s wonderful.  I really feel I can do a lot to help people.  It’s like being - well, like the better parts of being at Terminus again.”

Tegan winced at the name of the place where she and Nyssa had been parted.

“I’m glad you’re happy.”

“I am, Tegan.  Really.  For a long while, I - I didn’t think I ever really would be.  I felt awful when I was.  I thought about Lasarti, and about the child I lost, and I thought, how can I ever be happy again?  But now, I know that I can be.”

“Well, you’ve got your work.  You’re doing something you enjoy.”

“Yes,” Nyssa murmured, standing and crossing behind Tegan’s chair.  
“And I have you.”

Tegan sensed Nyssa leaning down, felt a gentle kiss pressed to the top of her head.

“I should go and sleep now.”

“Yeah,” Tegan agreed, “me too.”

“Good night.”

“Good night."

Listening to Nyssa head into the guest room, Tegan sighed.  She doubted, truly doubted, that she would sleep tonight at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, this story diverges quite a bit from the Big Finish version of Tegan and Nyssa's post-TARDIS lives. However, where possible, aspects of these, such as Tegan running her father's business, as well as the names of Nyssa's husband and daughter, have been incorporated.


End file.
